After School: Moving on From The School System

Recently I had another piece published over at the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE.org) on Growth vs. Fixed Mindset. The reaction has been overwhelming positive. I have gotten many questions though about solutions. This is something that comes up quite often in replies to my writing, mostly because I spend a good deal of time trying to educate people on the ills of schooling.

I completely understand why people ask about solutions though. After all, I cannot spend all my time railing about the system and not provide what alternatives should exist. In my forthcoming book, Failure: The History and Results of a Broken School System, we dedicate an entire section to alternatives. So today I thought I would dedicate the blog post to outlining my thoughts on alternatives to the American schooling system. Enjoy.

Moving On From School

Reform is futile. For decades, lawmakers, parents, teachers, and other social leaders have attempted to "reform" the American school system. Billions and billions of dollars have been spent in the name of attempting to educate the children of this nation. Statists have thrown every tool they have at trying fix schools. When this has failed, they have turned to attempting to justify why they keep trying. More often than not, their argument rests on "the importance of having an educated citizenry." Why on earth would we want children to NOT go to school? We need a well rounded citizen to keep this thing going. We need educated people to be the leaders of the future. I agree! However, school is not how we ensure this happens. 

As I have laid out in other writings, school does not equate to education. Maybe you have noticed that I intentionally keep using "school" and not "education." What we have is an American schooling system, not an education system. So what is the difference? Well, most people would logically assume that we send our children to school to receive an education. First, one cannot get an education, it must be taken. This was the mantra espoused by the late John Taylor Gatto, and he is correct. You cannot force someone to learn, which is what our schooling system is built upon; force. We force kids to attend school, we force them to take various courses, we force them to abide by arbitrary rules, etc. This is the basis of school and the reason why reform will not work. So what must we do?

I propose the first course of action is to remove the compulsive nature of schooling. We must return ownership of how we educate our children back over to the family. This would essentially provide an unlimited number of options to parents and children to decide how and when they are educated. Providing this freedom would generate ownership in being educated. Much like other social programs, government run schooling has created apathy. Allowing people to choose the manner in which they learn would create many options for how this is accomplished.

Accepting this logic requires us to also acknowledge that teaching and learning should look radically different than it does currently. I ascribe to the concept of open source learning. This approach sees teaching and learning as a much more natural and organic function. Under the schooling system of licensing teachers and forcing children in to schools, learning and teaching have become very awkward and clumsy. For example, take a moment and Google "Flaws in how we teach math." Look at all the examples of what people are saying about how off the mark the school system is in teaching children mathematical concepts. It's no wonder children are so frustrated and want to quit. Further, we should view anyone with experience and skills to offer as a teacher. We must allow our children to learn from those around them, not just those the state has deemed worthy of being called teacher.

How does all this occur then? I am a proponent of any system that strips away power from the quasi-monopoly government has on education. Charters, alternative schools and homeschooling are all great choices for those that do not fit well in to the government run system. Notice this implies that there are some that this model works well for. I am not necessarily a proponent of taking a wrecking ball to the school system. If families believe this model works well for them, that is fine. However, the one size fits all approach does not work well for everyone, yet the barriers to alternatives are great and restrain far too many from bucking this system. 

Ideally, I would promote unschooling. Unschooling is natural learning. It is not forced, nor is it necessarily scripted. This makes it very difficult to comprehend for those who have been exposed to nothing but forced schooling. Unschooling does not ascribe to scripted curriculum or learning from experts.  More importantly, it returns ownership of learning to the self. This model provides children (and parents) with the framework to determine what is best for their own learning style and needs. It is free of any type of force. Children in this sense then are encouraged to pursue their interests and strengths. What a novel concept! Take a moment and look at the Alliance for Self-Directed Education (self-directed.org) and research all the great options that exist in this model.

Critics of this model will claim that if children are not forced to play school, they will not learn. They will engage in idleness and waste days playing video games and milling around on social media. First, I would argue, there is much to be learned in both those arenas. Any experience is a learning opportunity. If a child has a natural curiosity in video games; let him explore it. The key, as with anything in life, is moderation. Of course in this model children will still need guidance and adult supervision. As they mature and get older, we should pull back on that. Further, I believe the natural yearning to learn would take over some time after the child learns what it is like to live freely. Most behaviors, like those viewed as "time wasters" are push back from children being told what to do nonstop. Once free, I believe we will see children flourish, pursing their passions and desires. This will take time of course.

No system is perfect. However, the current system is neither close to perfect or working efficiently. We must work to break free from the tentacles of government run schooling for the sake of this and future generations. If we truly want an open minded, well rounded citizenry, we must reengage with our children and give them the tools they need to be successful.